By far the majority of the children in street occupations are engaged in the sale or delivery of newspapers. The newsboy predominates to such an extent that he is taken as a matter of course. As Mrs. Florence Kelley says, "For more than one generation, it has been almost invariably assumed that there must be little newsboys." Ever since he became an institution of our city life, the public has been pleased to regard him admiringly as an energetic salesman of penetrating mind and keen sense of humor. There seems to be a tacit indorsement of the newsboy as such.

Ordinarily there are five classes of newsboys to be found in all large cities—(1) the corner boys, (2) those who sell for corner boys on salary, (3) others who sell for them on commission, (4) those who sell for themselves, and (5) those with delivery routes. The bulk of the business is handled by the first three of these classes, which are always associated together and found on the busy corners of the downtown sections of all our cities. The choice localities for the sale of newspapers, namely, the corners in the downtown sections where thousands of pedestrians are daily passing, come under the control of individuals by virtue of long tenure or by purchase, and their title to these corners is not disputed largely on account of the support they receive from the circulation managers of the newspapers. In former years the proprietorship of the corner was settled by a fight, but now it undergoes change of ownership by the formal transfer of location, fixtures and goodwill in accordance with the most approved legal practice.

In Chicago a system of routes has been established by the newspapers which send wagons out with the different editions published each day to supply the men who control the delivery and sale of newspapers in the various districts. These route men employ boys to deliver for them to regular customers and also to sell on street corners on a commission basis. In Boston, ex-newsboys known as "Canada Points" are employed by the publishers at a fixed salary to distribute the editions by wholesale among the twenty odd places in the city from which the street sellers are supplied.

Ages, Earnings and Character of the Work

The following individual cases will serve to illustrate the various forms this business takes. One nineteen-year-old boy paid $65 for his corner in Cincinnati about five years ago; he now earns from $4 to $5 a day clear and would not sell the location for many times its cost. He works there from 11 A.M. to 6.30 P.M. on week days, starting an hour earlier on Saturdays, while on Sundays he delivers the morning newspapers over a route to regular customers. Two boys of about twelve years of age work for him, to one of whom he pays 25 cents a day and to the other 30 cents a day; their duties are to hawk the different editions and to dispose of as many copies as possible by hopping the street cars and offering the papers to pedestrians from 3.45 to 6.30 P.M. daily on week days. If they do not hustle and make a large number of sales, they lose their job.

A corner in another part of the city is "owned" by a thirteen-year-old boy who earns about 80 cents a day clear for himself in eight hours, and on Saturdays in nine hours. He has two boys working for him on commission, to whom he pays one cent for every four papers sold; they average about 15 cents a day apiece for three hours' work. When questioned, these commission boys admitted that they could make more money if working for themselves, but in that case would have to work until all the copies they had bought were sold, while on the commission plan they did not have to shoulder so much responsibility.

Regulations made by the circulation managers of newspapers concerning the return of unsold copies greatly affect the newsboys' business. Naturally these regulations are made with an eye to extending the circulation. Corner boys are allowed to return only one copy out of every ten bought, being reimbursed by the office for its cost. Consequently they urge their newsboy employees and commission workers to put forth every effort to dispose of the supply purchased. The independent sellers are never permitted to return any unsold copies, except in the case of certain energetic boys who can be relied upon to work hard in any event. These are known as "hustlers," and owing to their having won the confidence of the circulation manager they are granted the special privilege of returning at cost all copies they have been unable to sell.

In Boston, beginners are often on a commission basis; "in this way they secure the advice and protection of the more experienced while serving their apprenticeship. These strikers, as they are called, keep one cent for every four collected; few of them earn more than 25 cents a day, while many of them earn less than 10."[43]

An eleven-year-old Jewish boy who has been a newsboy for several years now controls a comparatively quiet corner in Cincinnati, where he nets from 40 to 50 cents a day, working about three hours. This boy's father and mother are both living.

Submission to older persons is natural among children, and an interesting instance of tyranny over small boys by adults was found in the case of a newspaper employee who works inside the plant and employs several young boys to sell newspapers on the streets for him. These boys together earn about $1.30 when working about seven hours, but only half of this amount goes into their pockets, the other half being paid to their "employer." In New York City certain busy sections having points of strategic value are under the control of men who employ small boys to do the real work for a mere pittance, usually the price of admission to a moving-picture show. However, under certain circumstances, these little fellows often display a sturdy spirit of independence. An amusing instance is innocently recorded by an old wartime report of a newsboys' home: "It had been decided to give the boys a free dinner on Sundays, on condition that they attend the Sunday School; but last Sunday they desired the Matron to say that they were able and willing to pay for the dinner."[44]

Independent newsboys must not stand in the territory controlled by another; they must select some uncontrolled spot, or else run about hither and yon, selling where they can. Under the unwritten law of this business a boy who chances to sell in another's territory must give the corner boy the money and receive a newspaper in exchange; this results the same as if the corner boy himself had made the sale. The earnings of these independent boys range from 15 to 65 cents daily out of school hours, while on Saturdays they make from $1 to $1.50 working from 11 A.M. to 6.30 P.M.

An eleven-year-old lad who has been a newsboy for three years, selling on his own account, disposes of most of his copies in saloons located in the middle of a busy square, earning from 50 cents to $1.25 a day even when attending school. His mother and father are both living. Another example of this class is a sixteen-year-old boy who devotes all his time to the trade, his net income averaging about $7.50 per week. His attitude toward regular work is both interesting and significant; he hopes to get a better job, but says that although he has hunted for one, so little is offered for what he can do ($2 to $3 per week) that it would hardly suffice for spending money. Discussing this difference between factory wages and street-trading profits, an English report says: "Working from 11 A.M. to 7 or 8 P.M., with intervals for gambling, newsboys over 14 years old can make from 10s. to 14s. a week if they have an ordinary share of alertness. In a factory or foundry, working from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M., a boy earns about 13s. a week. The comparison needs no comment. The excitement of their career tends to make them more and more reluctant to work steadily.... Many newsboys protest that they want more permanent work, but they rarely keep it when it is found for them."[45] The life of the streets lacks the discipline involved in steady work and fixed earnings.

As an example of the route boy there is a fourteen-year-old lad in Cincinnati who has a list of fifty customers to whom he delivers newspapers regularly, earning in this way 25 cents daily, delivering after school hours. He declares that he finds it much easier to work on a route than to sell on the corners or at random.

The morning papers employ a man as circulation manager for the residence districts who controls all the corners in those sections. When a corner becomes vacant, he assigns a youth to it. These older boys are not to sell their corners nor to dispose of them in any way, nor are they allowed to have any one working for them; they must "hop" all the street cars passing their corners and are expected to put forth every effort to accomplish a great number of sales. They get their supply of copies at the branch office at 5 A.M., hurrying then to their corners, where they remain until nearly noon, averaging in this time from $2 to $3 per day clear. Nearly all of the afternoon papers sold in the residence districts are delivered by route boys; after having gone over their routes, some of these boys go to the busier localities and sell the sporting extra during the baseball season until about seven o'clock.

Environment

Strong emphasis was laid upon the evils of street trading by the New York Child Welfare Exhibit of 1911, the Committee on Work and Wages declaring that "The ordinary newsboy is surrounded by influences that are extremely bad, because (1) of the desultory nature of his work; (2) of the character of street life; and (3) of the lack of discipline or restraint in this work. The occupation is characterized by 'rush hours,' during which the boy will work himself into exhaustion trying to keep pace with his trade, and long hours in which there is little or nothing to do, during which the boy has unlimited opportunities to make such use of the street freedom as he sees fit. During these light hours newsboys congregate in the streets and commit many acts of vandalism. They learn all forms of petty theft and usually are accomplished in most of the vices of the street. In building up their routes, the boys often include places of the most degrading and detrimental character. On the economic side, the loss is due to failure of the occupation to furnish any training for industrial careers."[46]

The irregularity of newsboys' meals and the questionable character of their food form one of the worst features of street work and are a real menace to health. Many newsboys are in the habit of eating hurriedly at lunch counters at intervals during the day and night, while some snatch free lunches in saloons. In New York City their diet has been found to consist chiefly of "such hostile ingredients as frankfÜrters, mince pies, doughnuts, ham sandwiches, cakes and 'sinkers'."[47] The use of stimulants is common, and the demand for them is to be expected because of the nervous strain of the work. Liquor is not consumed to any appreciable extent by street-trading children, but coffee is a favorite beverage. In the largest cities, where "night gangs" are found, from four to six bowls of coffee are usually taken every evening. Tobacco is used in great quantities and in all its forms; many boys even appease their hunger for the time by smoking cigarettes, and the smallest "newsies" are addicted to the habit. Evidence that this is not a recent development among street workers is found in a report made nearly a quarter of a century ago, which, with reference to newsboys, says "many of them soon spend their gains in pool rooms, low places of amusement and for the poisonous cigarette."[48]

An English report on the street traders of Manchester says: "Drunkenness is rare among these boys ... they are in many ways attractive; but the closer our acquaintance grows with them the more overwhelming does this propensity to gambling appear. Indeed, it may reasonably be said that the whole career of the street trader is one long game of chance.... They tend to become more and more unwilling to work hard; they are the creatures of accident and lose the power of foresight; they never form habits of thrift; and their word can be taken only by those who have learnt how to interpret it."[49]

There are tricks in newspaper selling as well as in other trades, and children are not slow to learn them. A careful observer cannot fail to note that certain newsboys seem always to be without change. Their patrons are generally in a hurry and willingly sacrifice the change from a nickel, even priding themselves on their unselfishness in thus helping to relieve the supposed poverty of the newsboys. As a matter of fact, such an act does real harm, for it arouses the cupidity of boys and leads them to believe that honesty is not the best policy. The temptation for newsboys to develop into "short change artists" is an ever present one, for the bustle of the street creates a most favorable condition for the practice of such frauds. Yet in spite of the many temptations which assail them, numbers of newsboys are scrupulously exact in the matter of making change, even under the most trying circumstances. Another common form of deceit, used to play upon the sympathy of passers-by, is practiced after nightfall by boys of all ages in offering a solitary newspaper for sale and crying in plaintive tone, "Please, mister, buy my last paper?" A kind-hearted person readily falls a victim to this ruse, and as soon as he has passed by, the newsboy draws another copy from his hidden supply and repeats his importuning. Commenting on these features of street trading, Dr. Charles P. Neill, United States Commissioner of Labor, has said: "Unless the child is cast in the mold of heroic virtue, the newsboy trade is a training in either knavery or mendicancy. Nowhere else are the wits so sharpened to look for the unfair advantage, nowhere else is the unfortunate lesson so early learned that dishonesty and trickery are more profitable than honesty, and that sympathy coins more pennies than does industry."[50]

Hours

Work at unseasonable hours is most disastrous in its effects upon growing children, and the newspaper trade is one that engages the labor of boys in our larger cities at all hours of the night. This fact is not generally known. A prominent social worker recently said: "I was astounded to find the other day that my newspaper comes to me in Chicago every morning because two little boys, one twelve and the other thirteen, get it at half-past two at night. These little boys, who go to school, carry papers around so that we get them in the morning at four o'clock all the year around. They are working for a man with whom we contract for our newspapers. I was quite shocked in St. Louis twice this fall (1908) to find a girl five or six years of age selling newspapers near the railroad station in the worst part of town after dark. We hear a great deal of sentimental talk about newsboys' societies doing so much for newsboys, but they do not seem to care anything for work of this kind."[51] In passing it may be remarked that in the city of Toledo there is an active association organized for the benefit of newsboys, which openly encourages street work by boys of from eight to seventeen years. The manager insists that such work affords the means of alleviating the poverty in the families of these boys, but upon inquiry it was found that he had never heard of the provision for the financial relief of such cases of child labor, which is made by the Ohio law, and which had been, at the time, most successfully administered for three years by the Board of Education of his own city.

The Chicago newspapers have their Sunday editions distributed on Saturday night, consequently the newsboys are up all night so as to assure prompt service to patrons. In the absence of public opinion in the matter, this abuse flourishes unrestricted, and the children's health is sacrificed to meet the demand for news. Agents of the Chicago Vice Commission reported having seen boys from ten to fifteen years of age selling morning papers at midnight Saturday in the evil districts of the city.[52]

The early rising of newsboys to deliver the morning week-day editions also contributes to the breaking down of their health. The old adage is a mockery in their case. There is abundant testimony relative to the evil effects of such untimely work. "Children who go to school and sell papers get up so early in the morning that they are so stupid during the day they cannot do anything. That was clearly demonstrated to me during my experience in teaching school."[53]

Another teacher said: "I have had instances in school where children have gone to sleep over their tasks because they got up at two or three o'clock in the morning to put out city lights and to sell papers. In those instances we wanted the parents to take the children away from their work. Where they would not do it, we prosecuted them for contributing to the delinquency of their children."[54]

The delivery of newspapers by young boys in the strictly residence sections of cities appears to be unobjectionable, yet even this simple work should be under restriction as to hours, because otherwise the boys would continue to rise at unseemly hours of the night in order to reach the branch offices in time to get the newspapers fresh from the press. In fact, every phase of street work should be under control. Dr. Harold E. Jones, medical inspector of schools to the Essex County Council, has testified that among the most injurious forms of labor performed by boys is the early morning delivery of newspapers and milk.[55] In his Report on Child Labor Legislation in Europe, Mr. C. W. A. Veditz states, "Delivering milk before school in the morning must be condemned, because it fatigues the children so that they become, to say the least, intellectually less receptive."[56]

In his article on "The Newsboy at Night in Philadelphia,"[57] Mr. Scott Nearing gives a graphic account of conditions in the City of Brotherly Love. Although this description was written some years ago, local social workers find that the same conditions still obtain, as there is neither law nor ordinance to bring about a change. In this city the closing of the theaters at eleven o'clock marks the beginning of Saturday night's work. The last editions of the evening newspapers are offered at this time, often as a cloak for begging. After the theater, the restaurant patrons are available as customers until midnight. Then the morning papers begin to come from the press, and the newsboys abandon their begging and gambling and rush to the offices for their supplies. A load of forty pounds is often carried by the smallest newsboys, hurrying along the streets in the early morning hours. The cream of the business is done at this time, for most of the purchasers are more or less intoxicated and therefore inclined to be generous with tips and indifferent as to change; sometimes a newsboy takes in as much money on Saturday night and Sunday morning as during the entire remainder of the week. In relating his experiences, Mr. Nearing says, "On one night we saw fifteen boys in a group just as the policeman was chasing them out of Chinatown at half-past three Sunday morning; the youngest boy was clearly not over ten and the oldest was barely sixteen." At this hour the officers of the law interfere and quell the revels of the district. The open gratings in sidewalks through which warm air comes from basements, are then sought, and here the boys pass the time dozing until dawn, when they go abroad again to cry the Sunday papers.

Home Conditions—Poverty

One of the reasons why the public is so indulgent toward the street worker is that it takes for granted that the child is making a manly effort to support a widowed mother and several starving little brothers and sisters. Mrs. Florence Kelley calls this "perverted reasoning" and scores the public which "unhesitatingly places the burden of the decrepit adult's maintenance upon the slender shoulders of the child."[58] Poverty has been made an excuse for child labor from time immemorial by those who profit by the system. Newspapers are not an exception to the rule; the newsboys extend their circulation and incidentally give them free advertising in the streets—hence they see nothing but good in the newsboys' work and fight lustily to defend what they claim to be the mainstay of the widows. That this popular impression and appealing argument are false and without justification has been shown by students of the problem everywhere. The following table gives the family condition of Cincinnati newsboys:—

Through a special inquiry it was found that in only 363 cases out of this total were the earnings of the children really needed. These 1752 children, ten to thirteen years of age, were licensed from July to December, 1909; their distribution as to age was as follows:—

Upon investigation of the home conditions of several hundred newsboys in New York City it was declared that "in the majority of cases parents are not dependent on the boys' earnings. The poverty plea—that boys must sell papers to help widowed mothers or disabled fathers—is, for the most part, gross exaggeration."[59]

Concerning a study of Chicago newsboys, Myron E. Adams says, "A careful investigation of the records of the Charity Organization Society shows that of the 1000 newsboys investigated, the names of but sixteen families are found, and of these ... only four received direct help, such as coal, clothing or food."[60]

Mr. Scott Nearing says: "In many cases the boys want to go on the streets in order to have the pocket money which this life affords, and the ignorant or indifferent parents make no objections, but take the street life as a matter of course. Sometimes, though not nearly as often as is generally supposed, there is real need for the selling."[61]

The British interdepartmental committee appointed in 1901 to inquire into the employment of school children, denounced the tolerance of street trading on the ground of necessity: "We think that in framing regulations with regard to child labour and school attendance ... the poverty of the child or its parents ought not to be made a test of the right to labour.... We do not think it is needed; we think that all children should have liberty to work as much and in such ways as is good for them and no more."[62]

Another argument in favor of street trading advanced by those who are interested in maintaining present conditions, is that it affords a splendid training for a business career because of the competition that rages among the boys. This is doubtless true, as far as it goes, but the great difficulty is that street trading leads nowhere. It is a blind alley that sooner or later leaves its followers helpless against the solid wall of skilled labor's competition. An occupation that fits a boy for nothing and is devoid of prospects, is a curse rather than a blessing in this day of specialization. In spite of the division of labor so elaborately realized to-day, a boy or girl who enters any of the regular industries has at least a fighting chance for acquiring a trade. If the child is honest, capable and diligent he will be promoted to a better position in time if misfortune does not overtake him. The trapper boy in a coal mine is in a fair way to become a miner. The lad who works in a machine shop has the opportunity to make a machinist of himself. The girl who begins as a wrapper in a dry goods shop may become a saleswoman, and then possibly a buyer for her department. Yet in most states children may not enter upon such work until they have reached the age of fourteen years, while some states prohibit boys under sixteen years from being employed in mines or in connection with dangerous machinery either in machine shops or elsewhere. Bitter experience has taught us that these restrictions are right and just, and we now have no hesitancy in barring young children from such employment, regardless of the training it affords. Why, then, do we exempt many forms of street work from the operation of the law? Why do we allow little children to work at any age, both night and day, as newsboys, bootblacks and peddlers in the essentially dangerous environment of the street? Such employment offers but a gloomy future—the useless life of the casual worker. There is no better position to which it leads, no chance for the discovery and development of ability, no reward for good service. It seems incredible that we have been so engrossed with throwing safeguards about the children in regular industries that we have altogether neglected the street worker, for the arguments against child labor in factories, mills, mines and retail shops apply with even greater force to the work of children in our city streets.

Better Substitutes

There is no reason why newsboys should not be replaced as the medium for the sale and delivery of newspapers by old men, cripples, the tuberculous and those otherwise incapacitated for regular work. In London, the Westminster Gazette, the Pall Mall Gazette, the Evening Standard and the Globe (all penny papers) are sold in the streets by old men; the Westminster Gazette pays them a wage of 1s. for selling eighteen copies and after having disposed of this number they are given a commission of 8d. a quire of twenty-six copies, a few men selling from six to eight quires a day. This newspaper has followed this method for many years, and its general manager declares that it is the most satisfactory system that they have been able to evolve. Boys have no sense of responsibility, while old men cling to their posts very faithfully. He admitted that the Westminster Gazette employed some boys as carriers and that the whole subject lay somewhat heavily on his conscience because, "practically speaking, these boys have no future ... a few of them may become cyclists carrying the newspapers ... in a few years their usefulness as cyclists has gone ... then they simply drift away, we don't know where, but we do know that they drift to places like Salvation Army Shelters, etc. How they earn their living is always one of the mysteries of London.... But they have learned nothing from us, nothing that gives them any usefulness for any other occupation.... The great majority become casual labourers dependent entirely on casual work.... It is a life in which very little is gained, although one would suppose that the open air would be of great benefit. But one must remember the insufficient food that these street traders have, and the bad conditions of living and the irregular hours. Many of these boys, of course, are up all hours of the night.... It is quite as bad for a boy in the long run to be engaged as a carrier distributor as for him to sell newspapers in the street. There is no possible argument for the system except that one's competitors do it, and that so long as they do it we must do the same.... We get practically all our men from Salvation Army and Church Army Shelters. There is an abundant supply.... The ordinary man whom we employ is over fifty years of age and runs up to about seventy years.... I think if the police would give us every facility for introducing kiosks it would be a great improvement upon the present system. If boys were prohibited from selling newspapers altogether on the streets, it would automatically send the public to the kiosk; ... the public get into the habit of getting the newspapers from the boys."[63]

It should be remembered in connection with the above statements that the Westminster Gazette is a penny paper, and its manager was of opinion that the half-penny papers could not afford to employ men because they depended largely for their circulation upon the persistence of newsboys in thrusting copies upon the attention of people in the streets; he believed that the use of old men would curtail their circulation because men are not so active as boys. On the other hand, news agents protested against the competition of street traders and maintained that they alone were fully able to meet the demands of the public. The departmental committee of 1910 reported: "There can, we think, be little doubt that an active child is an effective agent in promoting the circulation of half-penny papers, and that if the employment of children were forbidden, newspapers would have to rely upon facilities of a more staid and less mobile character. But we see no reason to think that purchasers of newspapers need be put to any inconvenience, since the news agents would be in a position considerably to extend their business, and it might reasonably be expected that the system of employing old men as salesmen would also be developed. It appears to us economically unjustifiable to use children to their own detriment for work which can be done by other means."[64]

Referring to the great possibilities for good involved in confining the sale and delivery of newspapers to adults who need outdoor work and are unable to provide for themselves in other ways, the Secretary of the New York Child Labor Committee says: "Where such cities as Paris and Berlin do entirely without newsboys—corner stands taking their places—it would seem that the least that can be done in American cities is to adopt some adequate system of regulation. In this connection, the opportunity presented in newspaper selling to give work to the aged and handicapped—who otherwise would have to be supported by private charity—should not be overlooked."[65]

The Newsboys' Court

In an effort to control to some extent the tendency of newsboys to become delinquent and to imbue them with a sense of personal responsibility, an interesting experiment in juvenile suffrage and jurisprudence has been undertaken in Boston.

During the year 1909, about three hundred newsboys were taken before the juvenile court of that city charged with violation of the local license rules. As the docket of this court was crowded, these newsboy cases were necessarily delayed, and as a result of this situation the boys conceived the idea of establishing a newsboys' court which should have jurisdiction in all cases of failure to observe the rules governing their trade. The following year a petition was presented to the Boston School Committee which was favorably acted upon by that body, and accordingly on the regular election day of that year the newsboys cast their ballots to select three juvenile judges of the court. These three boys, together with two adults appointed by the School Committee, compose the court. Election of these boy judges is held annually, and all licensed newsboys who attend the public schools are qualified electors. The court is empowered to investigate and report its findings with recommendations to the School Committee in all cases of infraction of the newsboy rules. Under the Massachusetts law the School Committee is authorized to regulate street trading by children under fourteen years of age, hence the newsboys are subject to purely local supervision. The supervisor of licensed minors, also an appointee of the School Committee, can, in his discretion, take complaints in his department before the newsboys' court instead of the juvenile court. The newsboy judges are paid fifty cents for their attendance at each official session of the court. The charges made before the Trial Board, as the Boston newsboys' court is called, range from selling without a badge or after eight o'clock in the evening or on street cars, to bad conduct, irregular school attendance, gambling or smoking. The disposition of these cases varies from reprimands and warnings to probation or suspension of license for a definite period, or complete revocation of license.[66]

Summary

Although the work of selling newspapers has been, to some extent, subdivided and systematized by circulation managers, it has so many features highly objectionable for children that a radical departure from present methods of handling this business should be taken. We know that the work of the newsboy lacks the oversight and discipline of adults, that it exposes the children to the varied physical dangers lurking in the streets, that the early and late hours cause fatigue, that the opportunities for bad companionship are frequent, that irregularity of meals and use of stimulants tend to weaken their constitutions, that it offers no chance for promotion and leads nowhere. We know further that the presence of the newsboy in our streets cannot be justified on the ground of poverty. It has been demonstrated in other countries that children are not essential to the sale and delivery of newspapers; in fact, it has been shown that selling at stands and the use of men instead of children in the streets are both feasible and satisfactory. Why cannot such practices be introduced into the United States? There can be but little doubt as to the advisability of this step, but the innovation will certainly not be made voluntarily by the newspapers. The law must force the issue by prohibiting street work by children.